A joint Israeli-Palestinian hotel in Hebron near the Cave of the Patriarchs might sound like a pipe dream in a city that has been a historic flashpoint of the conflict.
But it was a vision that the administrative head of Hebron’s Jewish community, Hillel Horowitz, laid out late Tuesday night, when he visited the home of a city resident – prominent Palestinian businessman Ashraf Jabari – for an iftar celebration to mark the end of the daily Ramadan fast, held April 13-May 12 this year.
“This is my first time here in Jabari’s home, even though we have been neighbors for 44 years,” Horowitz said as he stood on Jabari’s upper stone balcony. The city lights of the mostly Palestinian city twinkled behind him in the darkness.
“We should be close neighbors,” he said.
Horowitz spoke of the religious ties that bind Jews and Muslims, such as their common ancestry as descendants of the biblical Abraham, who purchased the Cave of the Patriarchs and is buried there. The ancient building on top of the tomb, built by King Herod, houses both Jewish prayer sanctuaries and the Ibrahimi Mosque.
Horowitz also referenced the Trump administration’s Abraham Accords, by which Israel in 2020 normalized ties with Arab countries, a move that is expected to increase Arab tourism to sovereign Israel and perhaps also to places in the West Bank such as Hebron. The Cave of the Patriarchs is already an international tourist attraction.
Horowitz suggested that Israelis and Palestinians in Hebron should capitalize on the interest in the biblical Abraham that was awakened by the normalization accords.
“There is a special atmosphere now, in light of the Abraham Accords,” Horowitz said, adding that “everyone wants a connection to Abraham.”
There is the potential for a number of projects near the Cave of the Patriarchs, including a visitor and events center.
“We can build a joint hotel here next to the Cave of the Patriarchs,” he said, as he publicly asked Jabari and any investors at the event to join in such a project.
“There should be a way to honor everyone who feels a tie to our forefather Abraham,” he said.
When he spoke of such a potential, the room burst into applause at the idea. The event was the second of its kind hosted by Jabari and organized by the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce (JSCC), which he co-founded along with Avi Zimmerman, who is a resident of the Ariel settlement.
Jabari first hosted such an iftar celebration in his home in 2019, but held off from a similar event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The JSCC seeks to advance joint Israeli-Palestinian economic projects, with a focus on strengthening ties between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, who are often branded as enemies rather than partners in the pursuit of peace.
Its grassroots initiative, founded in 2017, was particularly favored by the Trump administration, whose envoy, former US ambassador David Friedman, attended some of its events. The JSCC also sent a 10-person Palestinian delegation, headed by Jabari, to the Trump administration’s Peace to Prosperity Workshop in Bahrain in 2019, despite the Palestinian Authority’s boycott of the event.
Death threats issued against Jabari for his ties to Israelis have not dismayed him from cooperative efforts.
At the iftar celebration Horowitz said he hoped the JCSS would help encourage joint economic activity.
“There is economic peace in the city,” Horowitz said, even though it has a high concentration of Palestinians affiliated with Hamas.
Horowitz was clear that he considers Hebron to be an integral part of Israel and believes that the Jewish presence in the city is the direct desire of the Jewish forefathers buried there.
“The Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people,” he said, adding however that he wants good relations with Arabs who recognize Jewish rights to the land and who want to live in peace with Israelis.
He lauded Jabari for his effort to pursue economic peace.
When Jabari welcomed his guests, he clarified that he believes his home is on Palestinian territory, but that he deeply supports coexistence.
“Israelis are our friends and our brothers,” Jabari stated, explaining that this includes those who live in the West Bank. He specifically spoke of settlers in Hebron, such as its community spokesman Noam Arnon, as his “brother.”
Jabari said that he continues to build that relationship without fear.
“I hope that in the coming years there will be true peace between us,” he said.
The Jewish participants, including a heavy settler contingent, were offered a kosher meal of rice, chicken, green beans, hummus and falafel catered from the nearby Kiryat Arba settlement.
HOROWITZ WAS one of a number of people who gave public speeches and/or toasted the gathering with small paper cups of black coffee, wishing the Palestinians in the room Ramadan kareem.
Former Likud minister Ayoub Kara, a longtime acquaintance of Jabari, drove all the way from northern Israel to attend the event.
Efrat Council head Oded Revivi brought Jabari a plate of chocolate, and Elkana Council head Asaf Mintzer presented Jabari with a basket of dried fruits. Revivi had hosted Jabari in his sukkah, and Mintzer had celebrated a Hanukkah event with him.
Still, Mintzer said, his trip to Hebron raised eyebrows when he spoke about it before departing.
Among those who arrived for a first-time visit was Yesha Council CEO Yigal Dilmoni, for whom it was an eye-opening event with regard to coexistence with Palestinians.
“I am 50 years and this is the first time I am participating in an iftar celebration,” said Dilmoni, who said that as he sat and listened to the participants, he wondered how it was that “just now, at this age, I am at such an event and learning about my neighbors who live here in Judea and Samaria.”
The Yesha Council, he said, has done international and domestic outreach but has not invested in communicating with the Palestinians living next door.
As the son of parents who immigrated to Israel from Afghanistan, Dilmoni recalled the good relations Jews had with their neighbors in Afghanistan.
“Jews and Arabs, Jews and Muslims lived for many years together,” Dilmoni said. “It is not a new thing. It is an ancient thing that has been renewed, and I think that it will only grow and expand,” he added.
The initial steps have been about the economy, but those initiatives can lead to real friendships that can tighten the bonds of neighbors around common issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
The Yesha Council had turned to the Health Ministry and the IDF, he said, to urge them to provide vaccines for the Palestinians, because the virus does not distinguish between people and is a danger to everyone.
Dilmoni also noted that the language used at the event had been either Hebrew or English, but not Arabic.
“One of the problems has been the linguistic blocks,” said Dilmoni, noting that his eighth-grade Arabic class had not enabled him to communicate.
He suggested that Arabic classes should be held in communities throughout Judea and Samaria, to help encourage joint dialogue.
Dilmoni’s words were also met with a round of applause.
“It is not by accident,” he said, that a meeting like this has occurred in Hebron, because this is a “city that binds everyone together, Jews and Arabs” Dilmoni added.
Arnon said that no one thinks of Hebron as a city of peace, and that what is happening here is a “revolution” that will create peace for the next generation.